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Habit and Intention in Everyday Life: The Multiple Processes by Which Past Behavior Predicts Future Behavior

DOI:10.1037/0033-2909.124.1.54
Authors:
Judith A. Ouellette
Judith A. Ouellette
Judith A. Ouellette
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Wendy Wood at University of Southern California
Wendy Wood
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Past behavior guides future responses through 2 processes. Well-practiced behaviors in constant contexts recur because the processing that initiates and controls their performance becomes automatic. Frequency of past behavior then reflects habit strength and has a direct effect on future performance. Alternately, when behaviors are not well learned or when they are performed in unstable or difficult contexts, conscious decision making is likely to be necessary to initiate and carry out the behavior. Under these conditions, past behavior (along with attitudes and subjective norms) may contribute to intentions, and behavior is guided by intentions. These relations between past behavior and future behavior are substantiated in a meta-analytic synthesis of prior research on behavior prediction and in a primary research investigation.
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... Habit is not only an automatic behavior to a certain situation but also an originator of behavioral intentions to surge continuance intention of current behavior. Studies highlight that habit predicts behavior and the frequency of previous behavior tends to have an impact on future behavior positively (Norman, Conner, & Bell, 2000;Ouellette & Wood, 1998). ...
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